So, I absolutely promise that I 100% am probably not going to get sucked down into my Pretty Noona Who Disappointed Me hole (at least not publicly). However. However. The episode of INAR my buddy watch ended on was a cliffhanger and I needed something swoony to watch and I wound up clicking play on ep 6 of Pretty Noona and I noticed something.

After Jin-A gets caught sneaking in by her dad she’s on the phone with Joon-Hee. He’s basically begging her to be honest with him about what’s going on and telling her to not stress out alone. He wants to be there for her because a relationship should be a partnership and she cuts him out. She wants to shoulder it alone. She doesn’t want to burden him with it. It’s fine! She insists and when he doesn’t seem to believe her she changes it to I’ll be fine because I have you. And that’s basically their entire relationship in one interaction. But also, they both kind of suck in the same way. He wants to support and protect because he loves her and it’s his role as “the man” . She wants to shield him because she’s older but also because she’s carrying baggage from previous relationships. She wants to be in love but not reliant on him.
In this episode Joon-Hee tells Jin-A that he loves her for the first time. He tells her (and I love the use of silence –even if it’s interrupted by that AWFUL ost here) and we see him anxiously waiting for her response and when she doesn’t say anything he repeats himself except this time it’s like he’s wanting her to know that he means it. Saying I love you wasn’t impulsive or spur of the moment. Jin-a still doesn’t respond but we see her, sitting in her bed, hand pressed to her chest eyes closed and she’s clearly *feeling* it. His words, his love for her, allowing herself to really fall. It’s a super great moment.
And this is why this stupid drama is such an obsession for me. Every time I watch it I find something new to love.
Just the first 8, of course. The back 8 are straight nightmare fueled garbage fire.

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    This drama truly emphasizes the depth and the gravity of the words “I love you”. Though it’s only a simple 3 word phrase, it holds SO MUCH gravity, weight, meaning, heart, and importance. It’s why when drama writing makes the characters throw out the phrase all Willy nilly and oh so casually, it gets on my nerves 😬

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    Maybe i should check out the 1st 8. Im kinda scared to touch this drama.

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      Well, the first 8 are genuinely lovely! And there are people out there who love the back half as much as the first half. I’m clearly not one of those people but I hear tell that they exist–even here in db! Aw, give it a go! I’ll totally buddy watch it with you if you want! Open invitation for whenever! I’d even ….watch….the back half. Something I’ve only done twice in my possible hundreds of rewatches. A tad wee bit obsessed.

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      It really depends on the individual viewer. The first half was great and sweet, and personally, I didn’t think the 2nd half is as insufferable as many people on DB have voiced it to be. Maybe because I’m used to seeing and watching horrible characters and horrible things in Dramaland, so it didn’t— and still doesn’t— phase me as much. I started re-watching this C-drama with a friend a few months ago (though, it’s her first time watching the drama), and watching alongside her, she make all these little commentaries over things that I personally never noticed and about things that make her go “Hmm” but which I never had the same reaction to when I watched the drama alone XD

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